RESEARCH NEWS 2024-10-31 Research News TMEM106b’s rap sheet is growing. Some of its genetic variants are linked to both Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia, and fibrils of this lysosomal protein accumulate in several neurodegenerative diseases. Now, in an October 18 p
RESEARCH NEWS 2024-10-30 Research News Scientists broadly agree that both apolipoprotein E and microglia are necessary ingredients for amyloidosis. In mice devoid of ApoE, or of their microglia, scant plaques form. Now, a sweeping study published October 9 in Immunity unveils a m
RESEARCH NEWS 2024-10-29 Research News Far from a static barrier, the brain’s extensive interface with the blood is increasingly being appreciated as an active border, one that serves not only to keep some proteins out, but to let others in (Oct 2024 conference news). Once across
RESEARCH NEWS 2024-10-25 Research News How exactly do amyloid plaques affect surrounding brain tissue, and does this change over time? Scientists led by Jörg Hanrieder at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, tackled this question by using isotopically labeled Aβ to timestamp pla
RESEARCH NEWS 2024-10-22 Research News Recent studies suggest that when neurons are overwhelmed by oxidative stress, they spew out toxic, peroxidated lipids. Glia then sail in to mop up the spill, containing the oils within intracellular droplets for use later on as fuel. Tau pla
RESEARCH NEWS 2024-10-22 Research News Four anti-amyloid antibodies— lecanemab, aducanumab, gantenerumab, donanemab —cleared plaque from the brain in Phase 3 trials, but only two went on to receive traditional U.S. marketing approval. What distinguished the successful ones? In a
RESEARCH NEWS 2024-10-20 Research News A drug that has been used for nearly a century to prevent and dissolve blood clots may also delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study in the October 8 Molecular Psychiatry. Heparin may never be prescribed for AD, but the f
RESEARCH NEWS 2024-10-17 Research News Geneticists are increasingly turning to endophenotypes, i.e., measurable disease traits, to help uncover genes that might be missed in heterogenous clinical cohorts. In the October 8 Nature Genetics, scientists led by David Fardo at the Univ
RESEARCH NEWS 2024-10-17 Research News Repeat expansion disorders, which are responsible for more than 40 neurological diseases, may be more common than clinical data would suggest. Epidemiological studies had estimated that REDs affect about one in 3,000 people, but now a study
RESEARCH NEWS 2024-10-14 Research News In neurodegenerative diseases, microglia can help or harm the brain. In the October 3 Journal of Clinical Investigation, scientists led by Ilia Baskakov at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, documented a transition fro
RESEARCH NEWS 2024-10-11 Research News The image of the “blood-brain barrier” as a static wall that shields the brain from the rest of the body is crumbling. A group of scientists argue, in a review published in Fluids and Barriers of the CNS earlier this year, that it’s time to
RESEARCH NEWS 2024-10-11 Research News Far from a static wall, the so-called “blood-brain barrier” is a dynamic, bustling interface that allows select groups of molecules to pass in and out of the brain. Which proteins and nutrients can cross varies according to the needs of the
RESEARCH NEWS 2024-10-11 Research News Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) often strikes our most human traits, such as the ability to speak and to interact on social and emotional levels. Now, research led by Lorenzo Pasquini and William Seeley at the University of California, San Fra
RESEARCH NEWS 2024-10-06 Research News Scientists are exploring many ways to tackle tau pathology. In the October 17 Cell Chemical Biology, researchers led by Jian-Zhi Wang at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, advocated for a new one. They generated